Navigating 21st Century Multimodal Textual Environments: A Case Study of Digital Literacy Dr. Muriel Wells, Damien Lyons Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.

Abstract In the 21 st Century young people have the opportunity to create digital texts that were unimaginable for previous generations. …

Introduction What does it mean to be successfully literate in the 21 st century? What pedagogical knowledge do teachers need to teach literacy in the 21st century?

The Australian Curriculum What is the Melbourne Declaration and how did it guide literacy for and in the 21 st century? In what ways does the Australian Curriculum reflect the Melbourne Declaration ?

The Australian Curriculum How does the Australian Curriculum locate literacy within the 21 st century?

Defining Digital Literacy What is digital literacy? What impact is digital literacy having on teaching and learning in primary literacy classrooms?

The Case Study Despite children’s engagement with contemporary communicative practices out of school, research (Burn and Leach, 2004) shows provision and opportunities to work with moving image media in early years classroom is limited (Metcalfe, 2013 p. 25). The following is our ‘inspiring example’ of digital literacy.

The Case Study Context: STAR AR project Grade 1 / 2 teachers changing practice – personalising learning Students making movies – getting feedback, audience

“The Cowboy” a digital text Characters, background/scene, events, complication and resolution.

The Movie

Developing the Framework for the Analysis of the digital text Buckingham, Hill and Metcalf.

Analysis of the digital text Using Buckingham (2007) categories of : Language, Production, Audience and Representation.

Susan Hill’s (2012) “More Complex Writing Assessment” rubric considers writers ability to present: Ideas, Organisation and Language features (p. 326). Analysing the construction of our digital text

Metcalfe (2013) Acquisition and development of language and vocabulary, Appreciation of a wide range of audiences, Identification of different genres generally and their associated features, and Understanding of structure, characterisation and plot in narratives in particular (p ).

21 st Century Literacy Framework for Analysis Framework

Analysis continued How does Kate’s digital text demonstrate how language works?

How does Kate’s digital text represent how digital texts are produced?

How does Kate’s digital text demonstrate her understanding of audience?

Metcalfe 2013 How does this ‘inspiring example’ enhance the teaching and learning of literacy for Kate?

Discussion What does it mean to be literate in the 21 st century? What are the challenges for educators? What can be learnt from our “inspiring example”?

Conclusion Kate’s teacher did not view these literate practices as “too complex” for early years students. She was willing to take a risk with literacy teaching practices and her students reaped the rewards for her bravery. This paper has presented evidence in the form of an ‘inspiring example’ to demonstrate how some schools communities and some teachers are taking up the challenge to bring teaching and learning firmly into the 21 st Century.